PROCTORVILLE — ELO once sang, “Hold on tight to your dream.” The Fairland Dragons had to hold on tight to their lead.

After squandering a 20-point second half lead, the Dragons held on to beat the Green Bobcats 65-58 Friday in the season opener for both teams.

“We had them down and they never quit. We stopped attacking. It was a good thing we had the lead,” said Fairland coach John McClung.

“But it was a good experience for our kids who haven’t played in a while. We don’t have much experience.”

Matt Bloomfield had 23 points and 4 assists to lead the Dragons before leaving the game in the fourth quarter with a hand injury. Chad Fisher scored 12 and Jon Baise added 10. Matt Campbell had 7 rebounds while Jonathan Holbrook and Evan Salyers grabbed 6 each.

Green was led by Dustin Stapleton with 15 points and Matt Ratcliff had 12.

“We got off to a rough start and we had to fight through some situations that didn’t go our way,” said Green coach Bobby Blanton.

“We made an effort and got within six. We hung in there. I was pleased with our effort and the fact we competed. We’re not satisfied because we didn’t win, but the effort was there.”

Bloomfield, Baise and Salyers combined for 13 points in the first quarter as Fairland jumped out to a 21-8 lead.

With Baise and Salyers on the bench the second quarter in foul trouble, Bloomfield had 6 points and Fisher 4 as the Dragons maintained a 35-22 lead. Stapleton and Ratcliff had 4 each.

Fairland led by as many as 20 points in the third quarter as Bloomfield scored 12 points. Stapleton had 7 points but Green fell behind 57-39.

Ratcliff and Stapleton combined for 10 points in the fourth quarter as Green got within 6, but the Dragons held on for the win.

“We didn’t have enough patience. We needed to control the clock and the game but we started to rush ourselves,” said McClung.

Green 8 14 17 19 = 58

Fairland 21 14 22 8 = 65

GREEN (0-1): Trenton Otworth 1-4 0-0 3-4 5, Tyler Hughes 0-3 1-1 0-0 3, Patrick Pierce 3-5 1-2 0-3 9, Matt Ratcliff 5-8 0-0 2-2 12, Nate Pinkerton 2-5 0-0 4-6 8, Chad Lewis 0-2 0-0 0-0 0, Dustin Stapleton 5-13 1-2 2-2 15, Zane Poe 3-3 0-0 0-0 6. Totals: 19-43 3-5 11-17 58. Assists: 5. Rebounds: 21. Turnovers: 11. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: None.

FAIRLAND (1-0): Jon Baise 4-7 0-0 2-2 10, Matt Bloomfield 8-11 1-2 4-5 23, Chad Fisher 3-9 1-4 3-5 12, Anthony Dillard 0-1 0-0 0-0 0, Eric Riley 0-1 0-0 0-0 0, Ryan Wooten 0-1 0-0 0-1 0, Kyle Riley 0-0 1-2 0-0 3, Jonathan Holbrook 0-3 1-2 0-3 3, Evan Salyers 3-7 0-0 0-0 6, Matt Campbell 3-6 0-0 0-2 6, Adam Lee 1-2 0-0 0-0 2. Totals: 22-47 4-10 9-17 65. Assists: 15 (Baise 4, Bloomfield 4). Rebounds: 31 (Holbrook 6, Campbell 7, Salyers 6). Fouls: 15. Fouled out: Salyers. Turnovers: 13.